


Sticks and Stones

by chlodobird



Series: The Dragon of Hell's Kitchen [13]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: BAMF Clint Barton, BAMF Matt Murdock, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Child Soldiers, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, Human Disaster Clint Barton, Human Disaster Matt Murdock, Identity Reveal, Stick is a dick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23812390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chlodobird/pseuds/chlodobird
Summary: When Stick blows back into town and gets himself on SHIELD's radar, Natasha snaps up the mission. No fucking child soldiers on her watch. Meanwhile, Matt heard that his old teacher was back in town, and goes to see what bullshit he's up to this time.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Matt Murdock, Clint Barton & Matt Murdock & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Miles Morales & Matt Murdock
Series: The Dragon of Hell's Kitchen [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1660564
Comments: 9
Kudos: 280





	Sticks and Stones

It felt like Clint had just managed to fall asleep when he was woken up by someone lightly shaking him.

He jolted up, ready to throw punches, but it was Natasha’s steely glare waiting next to him. Without preamble, she said, “ .”

“Shit, I don’t have my aids in, hold on.”

He scanned his apartment and scooped them up off the counter. He checked the volume setting out of habit, despite the fact that the fancy aids Stark made adjusted automatically, and stuck them in. He winced at the new flood of sound and dragged his hand across his face tiredly.

“What time is it?”

“Eleven thirty,” Nat said shortly. “Clint, Some asshole’s been taking kids.”

He immediately shifted into mission mode. “Fuck.”

“He got onto SHIELD’s radar because the kids have powers.”

“We’re going after them.” It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway.

“I have a lead on where they are. Gear up, Hawkeye.”

He changed into his crime-fighting outfit and loaded up on arrows and knives. The last thing he grabbed was his favorite bow and nodded at Natasha. “Ready. Brief me on the way.”

Natasha had brought her car, and it was waiting out in front. The two spies got in and Natasha’s hands were tight on the wheel. “The only name SHIELD has on him is Stick. He’s part of an unnamed cult. Last seen with three children, around ages nine, eleven, and twelve. They moved like they were trained. They’ve been hanging around in Brooklyn for the past twelve hours, potentially looking for another child soldier.”

Clint nodded along, squashing the horror in the pit of his stomach. Just because something had become routine didn’t mean he’d become used to it. “We know anything else? Name of the cult? How long he’s had them?”

“No.”

“Dammit,” he sighed. “Priority one is the kids.”

“Of course.”

Nat parked the car in the heart of Brooklyn, and pointed to the left. “The sighting was a couple blocks from here in that direction. We’ll comb the area.”

Clint nodded, and asked, “Split up to cover more ground?”

“Yeah. You’ve got the Stark aids?”

“I’ll turn on the comm setting.”

After a last thirty seconds of recollecting gear and organizing search routes, they hopped out and split up. Clint searched the neighborhood quickly and effectively, but he didn’t get far before he ran into the smaller Spider-Man.

“What are you doing here?”

That was weird, Short usually was more polite than the little shit Medium turned into after hanging out with Daredevil.

Granted, Stark had been an idiot in how he treated Medium, but still. Why was Short being so pointed?

“I’m here with Natasha.” Did the Devil teach his students the lie trick? Go for half-truth. “We’re here on behalf of SHIELD to find some guy named Stick.” No need to mention their personal grudges, especially Natasha’s history.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Well, that wasn’t ideal, but at least he didn’t demand the entire personal truth. “Listen kiddo, this fuckhead has child soldiers. We can’t just let that slide.”

It was hard to tell with the mask, but Clint was pretty sure that the kid looked pained. “I know. Double D’s handling it.”

“Handling it? We’re the ones who can get him in jail and stay in jail.”

Spider-Man evaluated him for a second, and sighed. “Just . . . go away, ok? This is important for Daredevil to do himself. Stick tried to recruit  _ me _ .”

Clint raised his eyebrows. What little he knew of the vigilante was mostly two rules. Don’t fuck with his friends and don’t fuck with his city. The first rule was the more serious offense, and Stick had gone straight for it. Either he didn’t know who he was messing with, or he wasn’t scared of a  _ fire-breathing dragon _ .

He really hoped it was the former. He was definitely going to butt in, and he didn’t feel like fighting someone who had the balls to face down a dragon.

“Alright, I’m leaving,” he lied. The kid didn’t catch it. Score! “Just go on back to whatever you were doing. Wait, what  _ were _ you doing?”

Spider-Man somehow managed to look shifty. “I was- uh. Just doing my normal patrol. You’re stopping me from stopping robberies. Piss off.” 

Clint put the pieces together and suppressed a grin. The kid was guarding his teacher, who had to be around here somewhere. He waved goodbye to the kid and slipped off into the shadows. “Nat, I found the little Spider-Man. Stick tried to recruit him. I’ve got the general area of this thing.” He gave her his location, and waited impatiently.

“Let’s go.”

Natasha appeared out of nowhere, and Clint would have jumped if she hadn’t been doing that the entire time he’d known her. “Great, let’s do it. I think it’s probably that way, considering that’s when Short appeared.”

“They call him Webs.”

“So?” Clint shrugged. “I call him Short and the original one Medium. It’s simple, it works.”

“Medium?”

“I can’t in good conscience call that shrimp  _ Tall _ .”

Natasha tilted her head in acknowledgement, but stayed quiet. They made their way through the neighborhood more quietly, more carefully.

Clint had his eyes on a building across the street when Nat nudged him and signed, “They’re in there. Saw through a window for a second.”

They crept to the side of the building and listened in.

“Stick, get out and leave the kids. Why the hell are you back, anyway? You haven’t been around since Midland Circle.”

“The Chaste needs soldiers. If you weren’t going to come, I figured your apprentices could use a better teacher.”

“You do not go near them,” Daredevil growled.

Clint traded a look with Natasha. If they were gonna get this guy in prison, they needed to step in before the dragon incinerated him.

She nodded, and they simultaneously burst in. For once, they actually managed to surprise Daredevil, who stiffened, but kept his eyes on Stick.

“You two need to leave, now.”

“Not until Stick gives us the children and we take him into custody,” Natasha said coldly.

_ That _ got him to turn around and face the duo. “I’m not going let him hand the kids over to fucking SHIELD. They would just be used as weapons,  _ again _ ,” Daredevil growled. “I know some lawyers, they’ll get the kids into the right place, where they won’t be roped into fighting another goddamn war.”

“Aw, you haven’t told them who you are yet?” Stick taunted.

This asshole knew, and the Avengers didn’t? Clint was almost insulted.

“SHIELD isn’t going to make them fight. They’ve handled cases like this before.”

Hell yeah, Nat, take him down! Unfortunately, Daredevil scoffed and didn’t back off. “Fuck the government. I’m taking them to the lawyers and that’s final. And Stick is my own goddamn business, not SHIELD’s.”

“Still being sentimental, kid? Dumbass.”

Still?  _ Kid _ ? Clint traded a glance with Nat, who had come to the same grim conclusion. Was Daredevil a fucking child soldier? What the hell?

Daredevil seemed to read the realization on their faces, because he whirled back on Stick angrily and spat, “Shut the hell up, dickhead. Just tell me where you have the kids stashed.”

“You need to come back. The Hand isn’t dead, not by a long shot, and we don’t have many people trained. We could use a dragon,” he said, as reluctant as pulling teeth.

“Really? Make me abandon my friends and city and put me near the Hand? You have to see the flaw in that plan.”

“Just because Ellie was weak enough to become a Black Sky, doesn’t mean-”

“It is  _ not her fault _ ,” Daredevil hissed. He was starting to literally steam, and Clint wondered for the first time if maybe Short was right about leaving the two alone.

Natasha didn’t seem to come to the same conclusion, and Clint admired her guts to speak up. “I just want the location of the kids, and then we’ll leave.” She stepped closer, and her voice turned dangerous. “But you will tell us where you’ve hidden the children.”

Her interjection seemed to cool the vigilante down. “I’m going to be the one to talk to them,” Daredevil told Natasha, unfazed by her scary murder-voice. “I know how this asshole operates.” Yikes, that kinda felt like extra confirmation of the child soldier thing.

“Guys, we can work this out,” Clint said, keeping a relaxed tone in his voice.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Stick said scornfully. “Some dumbass running around with a bow isn’t exactly Avengers material.”

Hey! “I could have superpowers. You don’t know me!” Keep them focused on him, keep the tension low. Natasha caught on instantly to his goal and stayed silent. 

Stick ignored him and turned back to Daredevil. “Matty, you know I’m not going to tell you where they are.”

Daredevil winced at what had to be his name, but kept a level attitude. “You and I both know I can beat you in a fight. So either you tell me now, or we fight and then you tell me.”

“You remember what Danny said. We were trained not to break under interrogation. Shame I never got around to finishing teaching you.”

Shit.

Clint stepped forward. “Okay. Stick. We know you want those kids, and that none of us want them to stay with you. So what can we offer in exchange for the kids?”

Stick laughed shortly. “Think you can convince this dipshit to come work with the Chaste again?”

“I think that he’s not going to do a damn thing he doesn’t want to do,” Clitn said honestly. “I don’t control him.”

Natasha joined in again. “We can work this out.”

“Hm.” Stick pretended to think for a second, and decided, “I’m willing to negotiate. How about, you let me take those kids, or I tell your pathetic secret identity to as many newspapers as I can get my hands on.”

Daredevil growled. “You wouldn’t get a chance. You’re not walking free by the end of this.”

Stick snapped his fingers. “That’s it. I tell you the location of the kids, you let me leave New York.”

The bottom half of Daredevil’s face seemed to be a part of a scowl, but the vigilante growled, “Fine. You leave. But we get the kids. And seriously, stop recruiting children. Go find ex-convicts. Society has a hard time accepting them, I bet plenty would be happy to fight cult terrorists. But don’t train creeps,” Daredevil instructed.

Stick tilted his head, eerily similar to the way Daredevil had a habit of doing. “That’s not the shittiest idea you’ve ever had, kid.”

“It’s a deal?”

The cult member shrugged. “Shit, fine.” He lowered his voice enough that Clint couldn’t hear, and by the frustrated look in Nat’s eyes, she couldn’t either.

Daredevil nodded. “If I get back and you’re still in town, I will turn you over to SHIELD.”

“Like they’d be able to catch and keep me,” Stick laughed.

Clint snorted, but Daredevil seemed to agree with the man. “It would still be inconvenient for your cause. Now fuck off.”

He hurled himself out a window and shifted into a dragon in midair. Clint couldn’t help but stare for just a second at the vanishing magic, but when he glanced back at Stick, the asshole had vanished.

Shit.

Natasha had a grim look on her face. “Let’s go. We have to tell SHIELD that Stick got away and that we gave the kids to a lawyer for them to help.”

“Daredevil was never here. I’m with you.”

They left Brooklyn without much more than a second glance.

He and Nat were eating Indian food in his apartment a week later when there was a knock on his window. Clint had his knife poised to throw and Nat had a gun aimed at the window before either of them had time to blink.

Wait, it was Daredevil?

Clint set down the knife and saw Nat lower her gun out of the corner of his eye. He groaned at the idea of getting to his feet, but he conceded that he had to, and went over to open the window. “We didn’t tell anyone about you being an ex-child soldier or the Matt thing, in case that’s why you were here.”

The vigilante tilted his head at Clint, and nodded. “I know. That’s not why I came. First things first, the kids are fine. They’re at St. Agnes’ orphanage, and I’ve been helping them move past what Stick taught them.”

Clint sighed in relief and trudged back to the table. Some asshole got in a lucky kick yesterday and his ribs were still sore. He sank into his chair, and pointed to the food. “Good. We were worried. There’s some curry, if you want. Go nuts.”

Daredevil shook his head, and took off his helmet.

He  _ took off his helmet _ .

Clint gaped, and the asshole had the audacity to smirk at his surprise. “Hi, I’m Matt Murdock. I’m a lawyer in Hell’s Kitchen.”

He looked at the guy’s face again, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You’re blind?”

“No light perception,” he confirmed.

Clint lit up. “Dude, disabled superhero buddies! I’m deaf!”

“Really?” Dare- no, Matt said in surprise. “I figured the buzzing in your ears were your comms.”

“That too. Double use, because Stark can’t resist making tech fancy.”

Matt glanced at Natasha. “You knew, didn’t you?”

“You identify people without looking at them, and when you fight, you don’t look at incoming blows to dodge them. You tilt your head a lot, especially when you’re evaluating something, like you’re listening closely.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “that’s fair.”

“You have enhanced hearing, maybe smell, don’t you?”

“All of it. Balance, touch, taste too. All my senses except the obvious,” Matt said with a chuckle, gesturing to his eyes. “I’ve got a sort of radar.”

Clint nodded, but his mind drifted back to something the man had said earlier. “Hold on. You said you were a lawyer.”

“It lets me know where the law stops being helpful and I have to step in. But it means I have to be careful about who knows. I could get disbarred.”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about from us,” Clint assured him. “We didn’t even tell SHIELD we met you.”

Matt relaxed a little, and sat down at the table with the two spies. “I appreciate that.”

“I understand a need for secrecy,” Nat replied. “When did Stick train you?”

Without his mask on, Matt was surprisingly easy for Clint to read. He grimaced and started clinically listing life events. “I went blind at nine, my dad died at ten, and I went to an orphanage. Stick found me there within a month or so, and he trained me for two years. He left when I was twelve.”

Clint made a sympathetic noise, and said, “That sucks, man.”

“It is what it is,” Matt said with a shrug.

“When I was younger, I was trained in a place called the Red Room,” Natasha said softly. “I understand.”

Clint winced at his own childhood memories and nodded. “You work with the Defenders. Well-adjusted people don’t become vigilantes.”

“I think that Webs is the only one of us I’ve met so far who had a pretty normal, un-traumatic childhood,” Matt sighed. “I’m worried about how this job is going to fuck him up.”

“Yeah.” Clint exaggerated his sigh, and continued, “His knees will never be the same again.”

Matt actually laughed at that. “Man, I remember the days back before I figured out my healing factor.”

“You have a healing factor? Some people just get all the luck,” Clint groaned. At the sound of his name, Lucky padded over and Clint absentmindedly started petting his dog.

“It’s a dragon thing. It takes a hell of a lot of energy, so I usually don’t use it too much, and it takes too much concentration to be helpful in an emergency.”

Nat tilted her head appraisingly. “You’re pretty trusting once you decide to go for it.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “You’re right, I should have checked. Hey, Clint, planning on using this information against me?”

“Oh, absolutely. I’m going to blackmail you into giving me free legal aid. Hey, by the way, you know the Iron Fist, don’t you?”

“Yeah? He’s a good guy.”

“He doesn’t carry a bow, does he?”

“No? He just . . . punches shit.”

“Thank you!”

Matt looked to Natasha questioningly, who explained, “Good ol’ Clinton here has a chip on his shoulder. When he’s running around as a street-level moron instead of an Avenger moron, people tend to think he’s the Iron Fist.”

“You know, I don’t see it,” he said with a grin.

Clint snorted, and even Nat cracked a smile. “Damn tracksuit mafia,” he grumbled. “I’m glad they steer clear of Bed-Stuy now.”

Matt pointed at him. “You’re the asshole the new Russian mafia keeps talking about!”

“Aw, fuck, did they move into Hell’s Kitchen?”

“Yeah. I’ve been trying to figure out their organization for months.”

Clint shrugged. “I could come by sometime and help out. I kinda stole this building from them? It’s legit now, but for a while, I was having problems with them. It would be nice to take them down for good, I think they called a hit on me and my apprentice.”

“Shit, that sucks.”

“Eh. Not the first time. Should I bring Nat for translating?”

Matt laughed, and said something incomprehensible in Russian. Nat grinned and replied, also in Russian, and Clint sank into his chair mournfully. “Guys, I get enough of this when you hang out with Bucky.”

“Sorry,” Matt said, still amused. “Do you speak any other languages?”

“ASL, and SHIELD required me to become trilingual so I picked Mandarin for my third language because it’s the most spoken language in the world. Seemed convenient. What about you?”

“On top of English and Russian? I’m fluent in Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian, and Greek.”

Even Natasha seemed a little impressed at the list. “You’d make a great SHIELD agent.”

“I don’t trust the government enough. I hear that’s recommended if you work for it.”

Clint jumped on the opportunity, and said with a laugh, “Can’t say I’ve heard that rumor.”

Natasha sighed. “Birds of a feather.”

“You two should stop by the office sometime. Foggy would be thrilled to finally meet some Avengers.” He turned to focus specifically on Nat and said, “I think you and Karen would probably be absolutely terrifying friends.”

“We’d love to!” Clint said immediately. “Or, I would. Nat is an enigma.”

“I think it would be interesting,” she conceded. “We’ll see.”

Clint watched as Matt grinned. The vigilante pulled his mask back on, and nodded goodbye. “I’ve got to get back home, I promised Foggy I wouldn’t stay out very long. Hopefully I’ll see you guys around.”

He tossed Clint a phone and said, “Put your number in, under the name Clint. I know I’ve already got some Avengers in my burner for if you need to contact the Defenders, but I figured that anyone who knows my real name gets to be in my real person phone. Could you pass it to Natasha when you’re done?”

He happily put in his number. Kate was never going to believe that he actually managed to befriend a vigilante. He slid it to Nat, who did the same.

“I’ll text you guys when I get home,” he promised. “Thanks for not being assholes about my secret identity.”

Clint grinned and said, “Oh, you’re gonna regret giving me access to your phone. I’m going to text you so much.”

“Whenever Clint gets injured and is supposed to rest, he spends his time bothering people,” Nat explained cheerfully. “Last time he broke his leg and two ribs, Steve almost murdered him.”

“I can’t wait,” Murdock said, before he slipped out the window.

Neither could Clint. He spent the rest of the evening with a warmth in his chest unrelated to the spice of the curry.

**Author's Note:**

> i just love Clint so much, guys. I binge read the entirety of the 2012 Hawkeye comic run in one day, it was so good. Clint is THE dumbass and its amazing. plus, the style and coloring? the way they play with chronological order? the way they draw ASL, and the blank speech bubbles when he doesn't have his aids in? so fucking good. AND then the All-New Hawkeye? not quite as interesting a story, BUT still gorgeous, visually. I love the watery flowey colors and style they drew the past vs the crispness of the storyline taking place in the present. just. please read it. shoutout to ExtraEdgyOtter who reccomended them as a place to start with Hawkeye (till now, I'd only read 80s Daredevil comics which are also fantastic but also so fucking weird sometimes? what the fuck was up with the Trixster? he was only in issue #241 but it was so surreal)  
> anyway my point it, it's 10/10 please go read 2012 Hawkeye, it's so much better than movie Clint


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